Resources for Educators

Immigrant Stories may be used in classrooms at all levels to explore immigrant and refugee experiences.  We encourage you to review our Story Collections or the full list of videos, and consider how they might be useful in your classroom. 

Do you already use Immigrant Stories in your teaching? We'd love to hear about it! And if you develop a formal curriculum based on Immigrant Stories, please share it with us at [email protected].

Here is a fantastic example of a curriculum for English as an Additional Language Learners based on Immigrant Stories, created by Bolape O. Olasebikan, a PhD student in Multilingual Education, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

An image of three people on a background of images of Minnesota and classrooms.
Our Stories Shape the World. A Graphic Novel, Three Immigrant Stories from Minnesota. Created by Bolape O. Olaosebikan

An image of four students at a table in a classroom.
SLIFE Narratives and Counternarratives: Student Book + Teacher Support. Created by Bolape O. Olasebikan

 

 

Making a Digital Story (Archived)

PLEASE NOTE: While you may continue to use the curriculum and view archived Immigrant Stories, we are in the process of updating Immigrant Stories and we are not currently creating or collecting new Immigrant Stories on this site. Please continue to check this website for updates.

Each curriculum is a complete resource for making Immigrant Stories in the classroom or a public workshop. They contain schedules, lesson plans, worksheets, a grading rubric, and written instructions that correspond with the website’s tutorial videos.

Download the Curriculum for College Instructors

Download the Curriculum for Immigrant Stories for English Language Learners

Download the Curriculum for Immigrant Stories for High School Teachers

Download the Immigrant Stories Workshop Guide

Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project

The digital stories in the Immigrant Stories collection are powerful primary sources for teaching and learning about immigration. We worked with The Advocates for Human Rights to create this curriculum for grade 8- adult learners.

The units address:

  1. why and how individuals and families immigrate
  2. refugee and asylee experiences, past and present
  3. the experiences of immigrant youth and immigrants' children

This curriculum contains lesson plans, fact sheets, worksheets, and classroom activities. 

 

Download the PowerPoints that Accompany these Lessons
Unit 1: Understanding Immigration
Unit 2: Refugee and Asylum Seekers

Lehrplan für den Unterricht mit Deutschlernern (Immigrant Stories for German Language Learners)

Immigrant Stories ist ein Projekt des Immigration History Research Center an der University of Minnesota. Diese Arbeit wurde durch großzügige Unterstützung des Projekts Digital Public Library of America Digital Hubs Pilot, der John S. und James L. Knight Foundation und des National Endowment for the Humanities ermöglicht.